Very Computer

Sorry to trouble you all with this one but I have a strange problem
with an Altos 7000P running SCO Openserver 5 (Enterprise).

The machine has 32Mb memory and a 2Gb SCSI hard disk. The system is
also running a Specialix EISA card and 16 serial ports. There is an
Accton 1208 network card allowing about 5 PCs to telnet into the
Altos.

The system was installed and has been running OK for about 3 weeks
_except_ that it 'stops working' every now and then. So far this has
happened 4 times.

The symptoms are:

- the system locks - all screens freeze and all TCP/IP connections
come up with a 'connection lost' type message.
- there are NO messages on the console (or any other screen) to give a
clue as to what has happened and nothing is logged in
/usr/adm/messages
- the lock-ups happens about once every 4 days at random times of day
(one locked at 5am in the morning)

I have checked crontabs and there are no timmed programs that are
running at any time when the system locks. Noone is accessing tape
drives or CD-ROMS. The power supply is smoothed by a UPS so we are
pretty confident that spikes haven't caused it.

Its a mystery!  :-(

About the only clue we had was that _once_ (and only once) we were
able to dial the machine via modem and when we connected the system
didn't give us login but it _did_ move the screen up each time we hit
return - which to me would suggest that the OS isn't entirely dead.

If anyone has any clues as to the way I should proceed to track down
the problem I would be very grateful. If you need any information just
let me know.

TIA
Chris R.

--
All views are my own and are not necessarily those of my employer.

Chris*r propounded certain bytes, to wit:
|
| Sorry to trouble you all with this one but I have a strange problem
| with an Altos 7000P running SCO Openserver 5 (Enterprise).
|
| The machine has 32Mb memory and a 2Gb SCSI hard disk. The system is
| also running a Specialix EISA card and 16 serial ports. There is an
| Accton 1208 network card allowing about 5 PCs to telnet into the
| Altos.
|
| The system was installed and has been running OK for about 3 weeks
| _except_ that it 'stops working' every now and then. So far this has
| happened 4 times.
|
| The symptoms are:
|
| - the system locks - all screens freeze and all TCP/IP connections
| come up with a 'connection lost' type message.
| - there are NO messages on the console (or any other screen) to give a
| clue as to what has happened and nothing is logged in
| /usr/adm/messages
| - the lock-ups happens about once every 4 days at random times of day
| (one locked at 5am in the morning)
|
| I have checked crontabs and there are no timmed programs that are
| running at any time when the system locks. Noone is accessing tape
| drives or CD-ROMS. The power supply is smoothed by a UPS so we are
| pretty confident that spikes haven't caused it.
|
| Its a mystery!  :-(
|
| About the only clue we had was that _once_ (and only once) we were
| able to dial the machine via modem and when we connected the system
| didn't give us login but it _did_ move the screen up each time we hit
| return - which to me would suggest that the OS isn't entirely dead.
|
| If anyone has any clues as to the way I should proceed to track down
| the problem I would be very grateful. If you need any information just
| let me know.

Consider this TA:

 Non-Corollary system gets "WARNING: ip: spinning on PCB Fxxxxxxx" messages.

 KEYWORDS: ip: spinning on PCB net100 openserver networking supplement release
 1.0 v5 5.0.0 5.0.2 console ERGREF E130167 us-ip-spin tcp_reaper tcp reap
 reaper warning

 RELEASE: SCO OpenServer Enterprise System Release 5.0.0, 5.0.2
          SCO OpenServer Desktop System Release 5.0.0, 5.0.2
          SCO Networking Supplement Release 1.0.0

 PROBLEM: The message "WARNING: ip: spinning on PCB Fxxxxxxx" scrolls on
          the console and all user processes hang.  Eventually, error log
          overflow messages will also appear.

          This can happen on both SCO OpenServer 5.0.2 and SCO OpenServer
          5.0.0 systems with the SCO Networking Supplement 1.0.0 installed.

          The same symptoms can appear on SCO OpenServer Release 5.0.0 systems
          with SCO SMP (Symmetrical Multiprocessing) Release 5.0.0 on Corollary
          Architecture machines for a different reason.

          See IT os/2793, "Corollary system gets 'WARNING: IP:spinning on
          PCB Fxxxxxxx' messages" for information on this related issue.

 CAUSE:  This is caused by a problem with the tcp_reaper() routine in the
         tcp driver shipped with the above products.

 SOLUTION: This problem has been reported to SCO Engineering.

To see if this is the case, put SYSTTY=1 into /etc/default/boot.
If you have a mouse on COM1, reconfigure it for COM2.  Plug a
terminal into COM1 to act as the console.  The WARNING messages will
scroll on that terminal (as you are now, they're no doubt scrolling on
tty01, but you're unable to switch to that multiscreen).
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